1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to computer security and in particular to detection of malicious software (“malware”).
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern computer systems are often susceptible to a number of different problems, problems which are exacerbated by the increasing complexity of computer systems. One such problem relates to system security. There exists a wide variety of security threats posed by malicious software—collectively referred to as “malware”—that secretly performs operations not desired by the computer user. Such operations include theft of important data (e.g. financial records), modification or destruction of system or user files, execution of “backdoor” programs, and the like.
Unfortunately, malware proves difficult to detect. Conventional solutions may track and monitor the behavior of each and every file in a computer system to identify malicious activity. However, this brute force approach to detecting malware is inefficient and consumes a tremendous amount of system resources.